Transgender Lawyer To Serve In Uruguay Senate

A transgender lawyer and LGBT activist
has been appointed to serve in the Uruguay Senate.

Michelle Suarez this week assumed the
position as a substitute for Communist Party Senator Marcos
Carambula, making her the nation's first transgender senator.

Suarez is also known for being
Uruguay's first transgender lawyer.

She helped draft a same-sex marriage
bill, which was approved in 2013, making Uruguay the second Latin
American country behind Argentina with marriage equality.

“The opportunities that I may have at
this moment, for many of my fellow trans people are impossible,
because they do not have the freedom to choose their personal
fulfillment, to be able to carry out the vocation or the dreams, that
I, in a moment, could,” she said after being sworn in.

According to EFE, Suarez plans to
introduce a transgender rights bill, titled the Comprehensive Trans
Act, which she co-authored. The law seeks to guarantee “the rights
of trans persons of all ages, of diverse sexual orientations and
socio-economic conditions.”

Suarez told the AP that she faced
harassment from classmates and teachers after she came out at the age
of 15.